Our NCHC weekend wrap-up typically goes over three of the bigger talking points from recent action. So as to not slight one of the fourth playoff quarterfinal series that took place this week, however, we’ll go over each series.
North Dakota rolls past CC
Thanks to 7-1 and 5-1 victories this weekend over Colorado College, North Dakota is now without a loss in their last 71 games in which the Fighting Hawks led after two periods.
UND went 4-for-6 on the power play in a 7-1 victory over CC on Friday, and the Hawks built up a 4-0 lead in the first period of Saturday’s Game 2 en route to UND’s eighth consecutive victory. The top-seeded Hawks will face No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth in the first round of next week’s NCHC Frozen Faceoff in Minneapolis.
SCSU gets hard-earned sweep over Broncos
St. Cloud State had a much more difficult time this weekend than UND did, but the Huskies will join their North Dakota counterparts at the Frozen Faceoff thanks to a two-game sweep of Western Michigan.
A Patrick Newell overtime goal gave St. Cloud a 4-3 victory in Friday’s Game 1, a tilt in which the second-seeded Huskies were trailing 2-1 in the second period. In Game 2 on Saturday, a three-goal middle period for the Huskies proved good enough to allow SCSU to move on to face third-seeded Denver next Friday in Minneapolis. Speaking of the Pioneers…
Denver outlasts Mavericks at home
A year ago, Omaha made a surprise first-ever trip to the Frozen Four in Boston. Now, following a pair of first-round playoff losses at Denver, the Mavericks are now tied for 17th in the PairWise Rankings and are now likely to miss this year’s NCAA tournament.
With a sweep of the Mavericks, DU wrapped up a perfect 6-0 mark against UNO this season, with the third and fourth victories also coming in Denver in the final weekend of the regular season. More recently, the Pioneers handed UNO a 5-2 loss Friday in Game 1 before Colin Staub played the hero 8:54 into a second overtime on Saturday to give DU a 4-3 victory in Game 2.
Duluth keeps gathering steam, sweeps Miami again
Minnesota-Duluth heads south to Minneapolis later this week carrying a six-game winning streak. Each of the last four of those victories came at home against Miami, including two this weekend.
UMD trailed 4-2 heading into the third period of Friday’s Game 1, but three Bulldogs goals in the final 20 minutes gave Duluth a 5-4 victory over the RedHawks. On Saturday night, UMD went a perfect 6-for-6 on the penalty kill en route to a 3-1 win that ended Miami’s (26th in the PairWise) season. Duluth now sits at 13th in those rankings and could certainly do with another positive result or two next weekend at the Frozen Faceoff.
